Rainbow Bridge Memorial

Papa "Papa Duke"

Papa
"Papa Duke"
#4070
December 22, 1998 - January 3, 2009

 

 

Dearly missed by Moira and Mike Corrigan

Papa came to GPI in August 2003. I originally met Papa in Oklahoma on the farm shortly before he came to GPI. Papa had a tough life; he went through 3 different homes and numerous foster homes as well as the kennel. He came to us as a foster in early 2008. Many volunteers remember Papa (or Pup Pup as I called him) from the kennel and would often ask how he was doing. We had often talked about adopting Papa, but it was not meant to be. Papa had a history of spinal pain and we thought we finally had it managed through a shot in his spine every few months. About a week before he died Papa spiked a very high fever and was in pain. All of this happening on a day we couldn’t get out of our neighborhood even with 4-wheel drive and chains on all four wheels. We tried a round of antibiotics (which I luckily had on hand) and some pain meds (which I had on hand for one of our other dogs). After a couple of days he rallied and was eating again, his fever was gone and he was walking with me and running with the other dogs
.
On Thursday night he was kinda quiet. On Friday morning he wouldn’t eat, was very quiet, appeared in pain (so I gave him some more pain meds), and spiked a fever again. I took Papa to the vet. To make a long story short, Papa was in excruciating pain and he became paralyzed in his back end. His bloodwork and urine tests were also showing some issues. His body basically gave out and his spinal issues overcame him. The kindest thing was to let him go and free him from his pain; so we let him go.
I will always remember the white paint dipped tail-end, his love of walks and running in the snow, chewing his nails, and his little whines when he wanted something. He was always a little bit of a grumble grouch with some of the younger dogs, but always my buddy and loved to be with me.

Papa turned 10 years old on Dec. 22nd – way too young to leave this world.
Good-bye my sweet boy – you were loved by many and are greatly missed.

Moira & Mike
Attila, Mac, Niko, Freeway, Kipper, Beau, Pufne at the Rainbow Bridge
Brett, Jasper, Hoss, Suzzy, Rango and Chief

Sorry for the passing of Papa Duke. Last year we had a nice Christmas together. He surely brought happiness for everyone around him. Since he retired from racing, he brought a lot of fun and love to the old people in the nursing home with his mom.
Duke stayed in our house for more than three months. It came so close for us to adopt him. One day after we had a nice walk, he just stayed downstairs and refused to go upstairs because of his pain. We thought some day, even the pain killer would not work. That’s why we decided to give him up and let him go back to the kennel.
Our Jimmy Snow went to Rainbow Bridge last year in October. Now they can play together. There is no more pain any more at the Rainbow Bridge. They can run free. Goodbye Papa Duke!! Thank you for being so good to us!!

Sonia & William (Papa’s former foster parents)
Delta, B.C.